Rose Bio for IGP

Some of the critical appointments President John Mahama has to make when he takes office on January 7, 2012 are within the security agencies but even before the search hits a crescendo, Commissioner of Police (COP) Rose Bio Atenga is said to have hit the road, lobbying to head the foremost internal security organization as the Chief Constable.

COP Atenga is said to be gunning for the job of the Inspector General of Police

(IGP) by dangling her government-friendly performance which, in her estimation, primes her more than others eligible for the top police job.

Police sources said COP David Asante Appietu, COP James Oppong-Boanu is suppose to have taken over as IGP but the two are considered ‘politically incorrect’, hence the delay in promoting them to the rank of Commissioner of Police which would put them at par with, or if not ahead, of Rose Bio.

Should the President give her the nod, she would be the first female police boss in the history of the Ghana Police Service, even though Mrs. Elizabeth Mills Robertson had acted as IGP before.

COP Rose Bio Atenga, 54, was until her elevation as the Director of Administration at the Police Headquarters, the Greater Accra Regional Commander. She is said to be talking to persons who can bring pressure to bear on President Mahama to give her the nod.

COP Bio Atenga is said to have an unenviable inter-personal relationship with some police officers who are wondering whether this attitudinal shortcoming could not affect her success as Chief Constable.

President Mahama will be faced with a major balancing act regarding the appointments in the security services, given the origin of some of the eligible top officers.

The Deputy IGP, Mohammed Alhassan, is said to be getting close to his retiring age after several years of meritorious service.

Although Ghana does not operate the quota system as it is done in Nigeria, it will nonetheless be outlandish for the President to appoint all his security chiefs from one geographical area of the country.

Should Rose Bio, a Frafra from the Upper East, have her way, it would be difficult for the President to appoint a Northerner for the position of Chief of the Defense Staff.

The only Northerner Service Chief is A.V.M. Samson-Oje. The name of Rear Admiral Mohammed Muniru Tahiru, currently Commandant of Military Academy and Training Schools (MATS), as the next Chief of the Defense Staff (CDS), to replace the current Lt. Gen. Augustine Blay, made some rounds recently but whether he would stay long enough to hold the position is another question.

Both the current Chief of Navy Staff, Mathew Quashie, and Mohammed Muniru Tahiru are Rear Admirals.

Should the Rear Admiral or a Northerner get the nod, Rose could cede the IGP slot to perhaps the Director General of Police Operations, Commissioner of Police Kudalor or another superior police officer from another part of the country.

Some are also suggesting COP Kudalor is in his twilight in the Police Service.

The name of Brig Fuseni Iddrisu, Director of Defense Intelligence, as the next Army Commander, is being loudly speculated but how President Mahama undertakes the balancing act, given the number of Northerners at the peak of their careers in the security services could be stressful for the Commander-In-Chief, who is a northerner.

Brig. Iddrisu, known among his peers in his old school Tamale Secondary School, as Jack Muddy, is a fine soldier who once headed the 4th Battalion of Infantry, Uaddara Barracks, Kumasi.

Should his name be okayed as Army Commander and posted in Part One Orders, he would definitely be promoted to the rank of a Major General, a two-star General.

President John Mahama is said to have largely parried a number of lobbyists close to him, preferring to be independent in such matters but just how much he can resist the mounting pressure would be seen in the coming days.

The current Chief of Army Staff, Maj. Gen. Joe “Ray” Adinkrah, Chief of Navy Staff, Rear Admiral Mathew Quashie and Chief of Air Staff, Air Vice Marshal Michael Samson-Oje, may all be retired after all to pave way for fresh limbs.